Adelaide's top choir strikes a new chord

Music

Adelaide Chamber Singers kicks off its 2009 subscription series with two Baroque blockbusters alongside a new composition by a recent PhD graduate in Composition.

The choir has had a busy start to the year with appearances in the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Bundaleer Forest Weekend and Coriole Music Festival.

"And we haven't even started our own subscription series yet!" said Carl Crossin, Artistic Director and Conductor of Adelaide Chamber Singers since 1985.

Carl is also currently Acting Director of the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music, where he is Head of Academic Studies and Director of Choral Music.

Adelaide Chamber Singers (ACS) is widely regarded as one of Australia's finest choirs - and as The Australian put it, "the city's classiest choral outfit". The group has its base at the Conservatorium.

"We have a number of advanced students singing with us at the moment," Carl said. "And they're not necessarily vocal students either; we have a couple of talented violinists who are also very good ensemble singers in there for good measure."
ACS divides its time between presenting its own concerts, and performing at festivals and concerts as invited artists.

"I think one of our biggest strengths is our versatility," Carl said. "At the Bundaleer Forest Weekend we were performing opera choruses with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to an audience of thousands at an outdoor concert... a couple of weeks later we were performing unaccompanied works from the Renaissance in the barrel room at Coriole Winery."

In 2009, ACS is including a new work by an emerging Australian composer in each of its subscription series concerts.

"They all just happen to have a link with the Elder Conservatorium," Carl said.

Anne Cawrse (from South Australia), Calvin Bowman (Victoria) and Paul-Antoni Bonetti (Queensland) are all completing postgraduate studies or have recently completed study in composition at the Conservatorium and will all write new works for ACS to perform this year."

Miserere, at St Peter's Cathedral on 20 June, features a cantata cycle by the Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude.

"Membra Jesu Nostri is a powerfully moving Baroque work which draws extensively on both the ensemble and solo skills of our singers," said Carl. The other work on the programme is Allegri's Miserere - one of the most famous works in the choral repertoire, although according to Carl Crossin this will be a performance with a difference.

"The version of the Miserere we all know and love is actually only an approximation of the original. It's a type of musical Chinese whispers - it's been through so many changes and editions that it only vaguely resembles Allegri's original intention. We'll perform both versions - the one everyone knows, and one which is closer to the version performed hundreds of years ago in the Sistine Chapel."

Adelaide Chamber Singers performs Miserere at St Peter's Cathedral at 6.30pm on Saturday 20 June. Tickets and concert subscriptions can be booked through BASS: visit www.adelaidechambersingers.com for more information.

Story by Edward Joyner